Business machine mounting means



Ap 27, 1943'. c. R. MouREY BUSINESS MACHINE MOUNTING MEANS 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Feb. 12, 1942 INVENTR C//Af l?. NOU/PEV BY' v lin-rolfzlNlsYv .April '27, 1943. 'Q R OUR-EY 2,317,934

BUSINESS MACHINE lMOUNTING MEANS Fi1ed.Feb. 12, 1942 2 Sheets-Shale?. 2

INVENTOR Y CHA/9.456 A. 0l/Pf? Patented Apr. 27, 1943 BUSINESS MACHINE MOUNTING MEANS Charles R. Mourey, Hartford, Conn., assigner to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application February 12, 1942, Serial No. 430,567

Claims.

This invention relates to business machine mounting means and, more particularly, it is concerned with substantially avoiding the difliculty of turning a machine and resting it so as to stand its underside upright and thereby have the interior mechanism conveniently visible and accessible for inspection and servicing.

The invention is herein illustrated with reference to a combined typewriting and computing machine of the kind exemplified in the H. L. Pitman U. S. Patent No. 2,192,365, dated March 5, 1940.

In use, such a machine may rest upon a special stand or upon an ofce desk or table. Such a machine is heavy and its outline and bulk are -such that it has not been easy to take hold of it,

turn it, and rest it with its underside upright; and, of course, the same difficulty has been experienced in returning the machine to its normal position.

The usual special stand and the machine do not lend themselves for turning and resting the machine with its underside upright. To move the machine around, for this purpose, upon the usual office table or desk is not convenient either and, moreover, entails liability of marring the table or desk. Thus, under conditions as they have been, for example, in the field, the serviceman has always been handicapped in that no provision has ever been contemplated or made for enabling one to easily turn the machine over.

An object of the invention is to provide a construction for enabling one easily to turn the machine to bring its underside upright.

Another object of the invention is to provide that the machine may be easily and safely turned up and rested without removing it from its stand, desk, or table.

Another object of the invention is to embody it in structure readily and neatly applicable to existing machines.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

Figure 1 is a side view of a combined typewriting and computing machine supported in normal position,

Figure 2 is a side view of the machine turned up and resting, with its underside upright, and surmounting a special stand,

Figure 3 is a perspective of a preferred form of a detail of the invention, namely, a tray with the machine resting thereon indicated in dot-anddash outline,

Figure 4 is a transverse cross section, on the trace 4--4, Figure 3, of the lower part of the machine resting in normal position in the tray.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the machine resting in the tray with parts partly sectioned and broken away. i.

The machine includes a typewriter T secured to and surmounting a computing base B. The computing base houses computing wheels,.. actuators therefor indexable under control of the typewriter, general operator mechanism and numerous associated mechanisms, all generally of the kind shown in the aforesaid Patent No. 2,192,365. For simplifying the drawings, all such interior mechanisms of the computing base are represented diagrammatically in Figure 4 by the outline I0. Said interior mechanisms are supported within transversely connected side plates II of the computing base framework. Each side plate II extends longitudinally of the computing base.

An outer casing or mask I2 for the computing base may be secured to the framework and includes sides I3 skirting the framework side plates II and also includes front and rear skirting sides I4, I5. Said sides I3 may beindividual members removably attached to the side plates I I as by snap fasteners 9.

For providing a closure for the otherwise open underside of the computing base, the latteri rests upon a plate I6 having upturned lateral sides I1 contiguous to the mask sides I3 as at Figures 4 and 5. The plate I6, its sides I1 and its upturned front and rear sides I8, I9, facing the mask sides I4, I5, form a tray within which the machine is set. The tray plate I6 has, preferably four,`coni-r cal elevations 20 which cooperate with recesses 2| in the bottom of the computing base for properly locating the machine within the tray. The recesses 2I may be formed in the underside of feet 22 resting upon plate I6 and having screw stems 23 'for attaching the feet to the bottoms of the framework side plates II, as in Figure 4. The tray Iii-I9 may be secured to the machine by screws 24 threaded into holes 25 of feet 22 and passing through washers 26 and through holes 21 centered in the conical elevations 20. Said screws 24 are used mainly for keeping the machine and tray I6-I9 together during shipment, and they may be removed after the machine has been installed in an ofce.

The tray I6-I9 may have four cushioning feet 28 of any suitable design for resting upon a stand, oice table, or desk. In Figures 1 `and 2, the machine is shown with the feet 28 of the tray resting upon a machine-receiving top 30 of an individual machine stand 3l having legs 32 standing on the oor 33. When the machine is installed, the tray may be permanently secured to the stand top as by means of screws 34 centered in the tray feet 28. In a similar way, the tray, and its feet 28, may be secured to the top of an oce table or desk.

Each framework side plate II of the combuting base has near its lower rear corner a stud 36 upon which is journaled a wheel 31 which, in the normal position of the machine, Figure 1, may be above and thus clear of the tray plate I6 as at 33. Referring to Figure 4, each wheel 31 is housed between the framework side plate II and side I3 of the mask. The side o the plate II may be recessed as at 35 to receive the wheel 31. Stud 36 is disposed so that the wheel projects its rim outside of the masking members I3, I5, Figure 1.

The sides II, I3 of the computing base near the front may have holes 42 or other suitable provision for the insertion or attachment of handle-forming rods 39. If desired, the holes 42 in the masking sides I3 may be omitted and said sides may be removed preparatory to inserting the handle rods 39 in the framework sides II. By taking hold of the inserted handle rods 39, and thereby lifting the front of the machine, the machine is turned about the point of rest of the rear machine feet 22 on plate I6 until the wheels 31 bear upon the tray plate I6, whereupon further turning of the machine takes place about the axis of said wheels 31 to lift the rear feet 22 clear of the tray plate I6. By means oithe handles, one then wheels the machine forwardly upon the tray plate I6 as a track and at the same time, turns the machine further about the wheels 31 so that the machine finally is disposed in the Figure 2 position wherein the underside of the computing base stands upright and the interior of the computing base mechanism is exposed and made accessible. A rest or prop in the form of a stud 40 inserted in the rear side of the typewriter cooperates with the wheels 31 to rest the machine upon the tray plate I6 in the Figure 2 position.

The tray sides I1 may guide-the machine laterally while it is being wheeled between the Figures 1 and 2 positions. It will be understood that the track of the wheels on the tray plate I6 is clear of the conical elevations 26 in that the latter may be laterally offset from said track. The wheeling of the machine to the Figure 2 position may be limited by the wheels 31 nally stopping against inner stops 4I on the tray sides I1.

The tray plate I6 may be providedwith detent humps 43 in the wheel track and said humps may be forcibly overridden by the wheels 31 in wheeling the machine forwardly or rearwardly. Said humps 43 detent the machine against accidental rearward displacement from the'Figure 2 position, and they also may serve as checks against which the wheels may react while the rearward tilting of the machine is completed after the wheels have been brought against the front stops 4L For returning the machine from its-up-ended, Figure 2, position to the normal position, Fig-- ure 1, the handle rods 39 -aretaken hold of and the machine may be thereby pulled forwardly to tilt about the stopped wheels 31 to a suitable inclination preparatory to over-riding the detent humps 43 and wheeling the machine backwardly on the tray plate I6. The backward wheeling of the machine may be nally limited by stopping of the wheels 31 against the rear tray side I9 so that, when the machine is nally lowered by means of the handle rods 39, its feet 22 will settle upon the tray plate I6 with the foot recesses 2I centralized over the conical elevations 23 of the tray plate I6.

By having the screw holes 21 in the tray surrounded, as indicated in the drawings, by the conical elevations 2U, the latter obviate liability of any accumulated oil in the tray escaping through said holes 21.

Where the machine is installed upon the stand 3I, Figure 2, the rear stand legs 32 may be provided with wheels 44 which normally are sufficiently elevated so as not to bear on the floor 33, the legs 32 being provided with non-skid feet 45 to take normally the weight of the stand and the machine to the oor. If, in wheeling the machine backwardly on the tray plate l 6, it is driven with undue force against the rear tray wall I9, the resulting tendency of the stand to overturn about the rear feet 45 will bring the wheels 44 immediately to bear on the oor so that the stand and machine will merely ride upon the floor on the wheels 44 instead of overturning.

It will be obvious that it may be feasible to take hold of the machine directly, that is, without resorting to use of the handle rods 39, for wheeling the machine in the tray from one position to the other. The resting rod or rods 4I) may be removed when not in use for resting the machine in the Figure 2 position.

It will be seen now that the invention provides for easily and safely handling the machine by one person and without removing the machine from its stand, desk, or table, in order to bring upright and thereby expose its underside for convenient inspection and servicing of the interior mechanism of the computing base. Conversely, the machine may be easily and safely returned to normal position.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

'fWhnt is claimed is:

1. In business-machine mounting-means, the combination with a supporting-plate upon which the machine is adapted to rest in normal position, of wheel-means journaled on the machine on a transverse axis near the back and bottom of the machine and adapted to engage the supporting plate for turning the machine upwardly and rearwardly about said axis and concurrently wheeling the machine forwardly upon the supporting plate to up-end and bring the machine to rest upon the plate with the underside of the machine upright.

2. In business-machine mounting-means, the machine having a footing-portion, the combination with a tray having a bottom and within which the machine is set with the footing-portion resting on said bottom, of wheel-means journaled on the machine on a transverse axis behind the footing-portion andnear the back of the machine and adapted to engage the traybottom for turning the machine about said axis and concurrently wheeling the machine forwardly upon the tray bottom to up-end and bring the machine to rest withinl the tray with the underside of the machine upright, said wheelmeans and axis also serving for wheeling and turning the machine back to normal position, said tray having stop-means to prevent overrun of the wheeling movements of the machine.

3. In business-machine mounting-means, the machine having a footing-portion, the combination with a tray having a bottom and within which the machine is set with the footing-portion resting on said bottom, of Wheel-means journaled on the machine on a transverse axis behind the footing-portion and near the back of the machine and adapted to engage the traybottom for turning the machine about said axis and concurrently wheeling the machine forwardly upon the tray bottom to up-end and bring the machine to rest within the tray with the underside of the machine upright, said tray having stop-means to prevent overrun of the forward wheeling movement of the machine to up-ended position, and said bottom having a detent-hump overridable by the wheeling means and serving to detent the machine against rearward movement from its up-ended position against said lstopping-means.

4. In mounting-means for a business-machine having a footing-portion, the combination with a support on which the footing-portion rests in the normal position of the machine, of wheel-y means on a transverse axis near the back and bottom of the machine whereby the machine may be turned and Wheeled to up-ended position in which the wheels .rest on the support, and propmeans temporarily attachable to the machine and adapted to engage said support to rest the machine in up-ended position.

5. In a business-machine mounting-means; the combination with the machine and a plate upon which the machine rests, the bottom of the machine having a plurality of formations and the plate having formations detachably itting the machine-bottom formations so as to hold the machine and the plate against relative transverse displacement, of wheel-means journaled on the machine on a transverse axis near the back and bottom of the machine and adapted to engage the plate for turning the machine upwardly and rearwardly about said axis, and concurrently wheeling the machine forwardly upon the plate to up-end and bring the machine to rest upon the plate with the underside of the machine upright, the machine being restorablg by wheeling it backwardly upon the plate and concurrently turning it forwardly and downwardly about said axis, and stop-means on the plate to engage the Wheel-means to stop the backward wheeling of the machine at a position which determines that the machine and plate formations will coincide when the down- Ward turning of the machine is completed from said position to rest the machine upon the plate.

CHARLES R. MOUREY. 

